Abstract The Southern Illinois Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (SI Bridges) is a partnership among Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), John A. Logan College (JALC) and Shawnee Community College (SCC) that is designed to resolve some of the disparities in postsecondary education access and success in biomedical and behavioral science (BBS) fields for students in our rural, economically and educationally depressed region. SIU, a four-year research and teaching institution, has a long track record of providing educational opportunities to diverse groups of students, and supporting undergraduate research and training in BBS fields. All three institutions have inclusive excellence, access, and success as core values and provide support services for the disadvantaged. The students served by the three partner institutions are largely poor and hail from counties with high poverty, higher than average minority populations and low baccalaureate degree attainment. SI Bridges will strengthen our on-going collaboration while providing institution-specific improvements that will lead to research-rich environments and a solid foundation for SI Bridges students to matriculate to SIU, graduate and enter careers or post-baccalaureate programs in BBS research. The program will begin by informing students about career opportunities in BBS and infusing socially relevant and thought- provoking learning activities into gatekeeper courses at the community colleges. Two cohorts of eighteen UR students (8-10 each from the two participating community colleges) will be recruited to participate as Bridges scholars. Bridges scholars will be in the program for two years. During the first year while at the community college, they will engage in specialized classes to enhance academic and technical skills, personalized mentoring, and professional development to bolster their success in baccalaureate education. After a Summer Research Immersion, scholars will transfer to SIUC and enter faculty research labs where they will be mentored for one year and integrated into the research enterprise. They will conduct an original, mentored, research study in their field of interest during the summer between their junior and senior years. SI Bridges support and experiences will increase the success of regional UR students in completing baccalaureate degrees in biomedical disciplines by providing them with real research experiences in university laboratories and courses to enhance their professional and academic success. Collectively, our program will increase both the diversity and number of biomedical scientists supporting the mission of the NIH R25 mechanism.